Nemesis's Revenge
by chilled monkey
Summary: A series of murders appear to be the work of Ben's former idol, but all is not as it seems...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10: Ultimate Alien or any of its characters or concepts. No profit is being made from this story.

Author's Note: A big thanks to everyone who enjoyed my last story. This fic however does not follow on from it but I hope readers will still enjoy it.

**Warning: **This fic contains character death.

Another day at the Channel 8 News Building had come to an end. Will Harangue made his way down the corridors, not taking any notice of the cheerful "bye Mr. Harangue's" said by his co-workers.

He was not in a good mood. Despite his best efforts, Ben Tennyson was only growing in popularity. Why would people treat the alien threat as a hero and a shining example? It made no sense to him at all.

Harangue told himself that he was just tired. It had been a long day. All he needed was some rest to clear his head and he would be able to devise a foolproof way to ruin Tennyson and his good name.

He stepped out of the exit into the evening air. It was a beautiful night, with no clouds and a clear view of the stars but he paid no attention to it as he walked up to his Mercedes in his executive parking space.

Just as he was reaching into his pocket for the keys he heard a sudden whooshing sound. Before he could turn to see what it was something shot past him and seized him by the shoulders. He cried out in surprise as he was hauled sideways and up into the air.

His captor flew across to an adjacent building and flung him unceremoniously onto the rooftop. He tumbled over the surface, feeling the gravel scrape away at his skin before he came to a halt.

Harangue's initial fear was replaced with anger. _Tennyson_ he thought furiously as he started to get up. _That menace thinks he can intimidate me? Well I'll…_

Then he caught sight of his assailant. He was so shocked by the sight that he lost his balance and fell back down again.

It wasn't Ben Tennyson. The figure before him was dressed in a suit of high-tech armour that was highly familiar despite the mask that covered their face.

"Captain Nemesis?" he said in surprise.

The armoured figure said one word.

"No."

Then they struck in a blur of motion. Harangue felt something hard and cold slice into his throat and then felt hot blood gushing from the wound. He clutched futilely at his severed windpipe and carotid artery as he toppled over onto his back. A final gurgle issued forth from his lips and then he went still.

Karma had finally caught up to Will Harangue in a big way.

His killer gazed down at his body dispassionately and then tossed it over the edge of the roof.

"One down, two to go."

The next day Ben, Gwen and Kevin were sitting together on the settee, watching a news broadcast of Will Harangue's death.

"And the top story of the hour. Will Harangue, controversial news anchorman, was found dead this morning outside the Channel 8 News Building. Police investigating the crime scene have described the death as 'suspicious.'"

Kevin whistled. "Whoa Tennyson. I know you didn't like the guy but that was a little extreme don't you think?"

Ben looked stricken. "I didn't do it!" he exclaimed. "I'd never do anything like that."

"Calm down Ben" said Gwen as she shot an annoyed look at Kevin. "Kevin was just joking. We know you're not a killer."

Ben settled down slightly. "But do you think maybe whoever killed Harangue could be some insane fan of mine?"

"It's possible" Gwen replied. "But even if it is, this isn't your fault. You aren't to blame."

Ben knew what she was saying was true, but he couldn't help feeling uneasy. He loved being a hero and being admired by the public. It felt great to know that people looked up to him and were inspired by him. But had he now inspired someone to commit murder?

Julie Yamamoto smiled happily as she headed home from tennis practise. She was in a very good mood and with good reason. Her schoolwork was going well with her grades as high as always. Her tennis career was coming along brilliantly, having made a name for herself as a rising young star. Best of all things were back on track with Ben and he seemed to have gotten over the swollen ego brought on by his "celebrity" status.

Yes, overall things couldn't get better…

"Julie Yamamoto?"

She stopped and turned to see the speaker. Standing in front of a red sports car was a girl her own age dressed in expensive-looking designer jeans and a black jacket. Her hair was dyed violet.

"Can I ask a question?" said the girl. Without waiting for an answer she said "what's it like to be dating a monster?"

"Ben is not a monster!" Julie replied indignantly. "He's a hero."

"Hero?" the purple-haired girl repeated scornfully. She stepped forwards, her pale blue eyes burning with anger. "He's barely human. With all the monsters he keeps changing into it's only a matter of time before he completely loses his mind. Even if he doesn't he can't be trusted. He's a reckless thrill seeker who doesn't care anything for the consequences of his actions or the people that get hurt." Her were clenched into fists and she was almost shaking with rage.

Julie tightened her grip on her tennis racket warily but kept her voice calm as she said, "Ben is not like that. He cares about helping people."

The girl said nothing but the anger in her eyes intensified. Julie readied herself for trouble but a moment later she seemed to calm down. Without another word she turned away and got into the sports car.

As the car started to drive away a sudden impulse came over Julie. She reached into her bag and took out her notebook. Before the car was gone she was able to write down the license plate.

"Who was that strange girl?" she wondered aloud.

That night Jennifer Nocturne was in her trademark gold helicopter being flown home from a party. The young actress was chatting away to a friend on her phone when the helicopter suddenly shook.

"What was that?" she exclaimed.

"Sorry Miss Nocturne" said the pilot. "Just a little air turbulence. It's nothing to worry about."

No sooner had he spoken then a metal-encased fist bashed a hole through the floor of the helicopter right in front of Jennifer. She screamed in terror as something pushed through the hole, tearing the metal apart as if it were tissue paper.

The attacker wore a suit of orange armour identical to that of Captain Nemesis except for two additions. A mask fashioned into a hideous face with sharp fangs and black insect-like eyes covered the figure's face and their gauntleted fingers had gleaming steel talons attached to them.

Jennifer screamed again as the attacker seized her and dragged her through the hole it had made before flying up and away, propelled by yellow streaks of light from their boots.

"Let me go, let me go!" Jennifer screamed hysterically as she struggled futilely in her kidnapper's iron-hard grip.

"Okay" the masked figure replied. It released its hold and Jennifer fell.

She continued screaming as she plummeted through the sky. In utter desperation she began crying "Ben! Save me! Please save me!"

But Ben was miles away, battling a group of alien tech-thieves. Her cries for help went unanswered until she finally smashed into the ground and laid still, her neck and limbs twisted into odd angles, her eyes fixed open.

"Two down. Now for the real target" said the armoured figure as it flew away.


	2. Chapter 2

The following day again found Ben, Gwen and Kevin watching the news report. This time Julie was with them.

She gasped and covered her mouth upon hearing about Jennifer Nocturne's death. She hadn't liked Ben spending time with the actress or the media attention that had been focused on it (not to mention her kissing him) but she would never have wished anything like this on her.

Ben took her hand and held it reassuringly while giving her a look of understanding. She smiled at him thankfully.

After a moment Ben said "first Will Harangue and now Jennifer. This can't be a co-incidence."

The newscaster on TV then said how the pilot had reported a figure in orange armour that had broken into the helicopter, snatched Jennifer and then let her fall before flying away at incredible speed.

Ben frowned as he stood up. "Captain Nemesis! It has to be him."

"But why would Captain Nemesis want to kill Harangue?" Gwen pointed out. "He was one of his biggest supporters."

"I, I don't know" Ben admitted. He turned to Julie. "But please be careful Julie" he said, his tone almost pleading. "If this is Nemesis then he'll probably come after you again."

"I'll be careful Ben" she replied, touched by his concern.

Kevin laughed. "After the butt-kicking he got last time I don't think he'd want to go anywhere near Julie."

Ben chuckled but it didn't sound entirely convincing. "Okay Kevin, can you get in touch with some of your contacts, see if any of them know anything?"

"No problem" he replied.

"Don't worry Ben" said Gwen. "We'll get to the bottom of this."

"Thanks Gwen" he replied, feeling a little relieved by everyone's support. He silently vowed that whoever the murderer was they would be stopped.

In a secret laboratory a purple-haired figure stepped back and admired her handiwork. Bathed in the glow of fluorescent lights was a high-tech battle-suit, orange in colour, with metal talons on its fingers and a fanged, bug-eyed faceplate.

Her name was Fiona Richards and as stared at the battle-suit her sense of pride grew. It had taken a lot of effort but she had finally been able to track down dealers in alien technology and had purchased equipment from them. She had then taken the basic design Captain Nemesis had used for his armour and upgraded it using the alien tech. Now she could don and remove it with ease, not requiring an entire staff of technicians to simply put it on like the original armour had. Plus the new energy source had all the power the original had with none of the dangerous side-effects that had required safeguards to be worn.

Of course she had anticipated that Tennyson and his sidekicks might try to trace the technology she had acquired but she had gone to great pains to cover her tracks. They would not find out until it was too late.

"You would have been so proud of me if you could have seen this" she whispered softly. "But now you never will because of him." Her face twisted with anger. "Because of Ben Tennyson."

The furious look faded and she again whispered "I've already made two of them pay. The one who spurned you in favour of him and the one whose blind, stupid vendetta drove you down the path to ruin. Now I'm going to kill Tennyson."

"I will avenge you… father."

Max Tennyson looked up as he heard a knocking at his door. Curious as to whom it could be he walked up and opened it.

"Julie, hello" he said in surprise.

"Hello Mr. Tennyson" she said politely. "I'm sorry to bother you but there's something I need your help with."

Max smiled. "It's no bother at all. You're practically family."

She also smiled at his words as she stepped inside. Her smile faded as she said, "it's about the two murders that have happened recently."

Max nodded grimly.

"When he saw the report on the news Ben thought it might be Captain Nemesis behind it."

"But you're not so sure" Max replied.

"Maybe, I don't know" she admitted. "Yesterday I had a run-in with this strange girl. She called Ben a monster and a reckless thrill seeker. She seemed really angry at him for some reason."

Max frowned. "Are you all right? Did she threaten you?"

"I'm fine and no she didn't threaten me or anything" Julie replied. "I just got a bad feeling from her. Before she drove away I got her license plate number. I was hoping if you could help me find out more about her. Ben, Gwen and Kevin were going to come along too but then there was a report of robots attacking the outskirts of town and they went to stop it."

"No problem" said Max confidently. "With Plumber computer equipment this'll be a breeze."

"Thank you Mr. Tennyson."

He chuckled. "Just call me Max. Like I said you're practically family. By the way I've just prepared some excellent mole-rat stew. Would you like to try some?"

"Um, no thanks Mr. Ten… Max. I've just eaten."


	3. Chapter 3

A BEN FAN benlie fan and Known Unknown– Thank you both very much. I'm glad you like it.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Since we don't know Captain Nemesis's real name in the series I decided to invent one for him.

A pair of cars, both green and black drove up and came to a halt in front of a small army of robots resembling giant cockroaches. The robots were busily demolishing buildings with mechanical jaws that crushed concrete with ease.

"Okay let's get to work" said Kevin as he put his hand on top of his car and absorbed the green-painted metal.

Before they could attack there was a whooshing sound and an armoured form landed in front of them. Ben started to speak but then did a double-take as he noted the monstrous mask and clawed gauntlets. Also the figure in front of them was smaller and thinner than his former idol had been.

"Captain Nemesis?"

"Not quite. Call me Nemesis 2." Although distorted slightly by the mask the voice was clearly female.

Ben dialled the Ultimatrix and transformed. "Fourarms!"

Fourarms rushed forwards and seized Nemesis 2 but she responded with a surprisingly powerful counter-grip and then fired her boot jets, sending them both up into the air.

"Ben!" Gwen yelled.

One of the robo-roaches fired a laser at her and she hurriedly blocked it with an energy shield. Kevin charged the one that had fired at her and hit it with a series of powerful punches. The robot reeled back but its armour held up well. Kevin finally resorted to lifting it and throwing it at one of its fellows.

"Ben can take care of himself" he said. "Right now we have our own problems."

Gwen nodded and blocked a volley of lasers with another shield.

In the sky above Fourarms and Nemesis 2 were still grappling, having been carried several blocks away from Gwen and Kevin by her boot jets. Determining that they were far enough away from Tennyson's allies and that the robo-roaches would be able to keep them busy long enough, she let go of Fourarms and slashed him viciously across the stomach. He cried out in pain

Surprised he let go and plummeted to the ground. The road shattered under the force of his impact. A little stunned he stood up and grimaced as he looked down at the bleeding wound. It wasn't deep enough to be serious but it stung.

Nemesis 2 landed in front of him and blasted him with an energy beam from her gauntlets. The blast sent him flying backwards to smash through a brick wall. He emerged from the hole to see Nemesis 2 flying at him, claws raised to strike.

Immediately he transformed into Jetray and soared up into the air. Nemesis 2 flew up after him.

"And here we are" said Max as he brought up the owner of the car on-screen.

Julie peered over his shoulder at the picture. "That's the girl I saw."

"Her name is Fiona Richards. She's an engineering student" said Max. "A very good one too by the looks of things. Let's see what else we can find."

Just a few minutes later he said "I don't believe it. Take a look at this. Her father is named Hannibal Richards. Here's his picture." He tapped a key and an image appeared on the computer.

Julie stared in shock. "That's Captain Nemesis!"

"That's not all." Max tapped the keyboard again and the image changed to a newspaper article. They read it with growing concern.

A short time later Julie left, thanking Max for his help. As she drove her motor scooter past a parked car the music coming from the car's radio was interrupted by a news bulletin.

"This is an urgent announcement. The teenage superhero Ben Tennyson is currently battling an armoured opponent believed to be the murderer of Jennifer Nocturne outside Bellwood Foundry. All citizens are advised to stay indoors…"

"Ben."

She increased her speed. From what she'd just found out Ben was in more danger than any of them had realised.

Fortunately her house wasn't far. She hurried inside and found Ship milling around the living room. Sensing her distress her pet bounded over to her. "Ship Ship."

"Ship, there's trouble" said Julie. She turned and pointed at her back. "Hop on."

Understanding what she wanted Ship sprang up and morphed into a backpack. A few moments later she was back on her scooter and speeding towards the foundry.

Nemesis 2 fired another energy blast but Jetray dodged it and countered with a neuro-shock blast that stunned his enemy. As he was about to press the attack he noticed that the blast he'd dodged had hit the foundry wall which was now starting to fall onto two men both of whom were frozen with fear.

Without hesitation Jetray zipped down and pushed both foundry workers out of the way just in time. "Run! Get out of here."

They immediately ran off. Jetray spun around as Nemesis 2 touched down and fired at him again. He transformed into Cannonbolt and rolled into a ball. The blast hit his armour without effect. Cannonbolt immediately rolled forwards in attack.

Nemesis 2 took aim and a series of yellow energy bands shot from her gauntlet. As the bands fell on Cannonbolt he floated up into the air. "Hey what gives?" he exclaimed as he stopped rolling and unfurled to see what was happening.

The bands colour changed from yellow to blue and he slammed into the ground on his back before he could roll up again. He struggled but found himself pinned to the ground.

"Gravity modifier" explained Nemesis 2. She slowly began to tighten her fingers. "Now I'm going to increase the gravity until it crushes you to pulp."

Cannonbolt continued to struggle but it was no good. He felt a pressure pushing down on his body that was already starting to increase.

"Stop!"


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you very much to the readers, especially crystalquirt, Known Unknown and A BEN FAN benlie fan for your kind comments.

"Stop!"

_Julie!_ Cannonbolt thought. He managed to turn his head enough to see Julie bringing her scooter to a halt and getting off it. "Julie, run!" he yelled.

She forced herself to ignore him and stepped forwards. Nemesis 2 glared at her. "Go away."

"Fiona, don't do this" she said.

The armour-clad girl was surprised by this. "How do you know that name?"

"I looked up your license plate" she explained. Her voice softened as she said, "I know what happened to your father."

She froze on hearing that. Her mask retracted to reveal her face and she glared at Cannonbolt. "My father was Hannibal Richards. You knew him as Captain Nemesis. And you ruined him" she said bitterly. "He died in prison Tennyson, killed by another inmate. Even before that he was a broken man. He was powerful, wealthy, famous. You took all of that away from him. You made him just another con."

"I killed Nocturne because she rejected him in favour of you, starting him down that path. I killed Harangue because he used my father as a weapon against you. Now I'm going to kill you."

"No!" Julie approached her, hands raised in a pacifying gesture. "I'm sorry for what happened to your father, but he was a grown man and he made his own choices. No one forced him to do what he did."

"Don't try to stop me" Fiona said coldly.

Cannonbolt tried to warn her away again but the gravity was now so strong he couldn't move his mouth.

Julie kept talking. "I read your file" she said gently. "You're a brilliant engineer Fiona. Just think how much good you can do, how many people you can help. Doesn't that honour your father's memory better than being remembered only as a killer?"

Fiona hesitated before replying. "It's too late for that. I've already killed two people. I can't go back now."

"It's not too late" Julie insisted, her tone firm but gentle. "You don't have to do what your father did or turn out like he did. You can change. You saw Ben save those guys. Tell me do you really want to kill someone who saves lives? Is that the person you really want to be?"

For a moment it seemed as if Julie had gotten through to her. But then she turned away, her mask sliding over her face again. "Leave now Yamamoto or you're next" she said coldly.

_I tried to help her_ Julie thought. _But now I have to stop her._

"Ship!"

He responded by morphing from a backpack into a battle-suit, this one smaller and sleeker than the previous version. Nemesis 2 turned but before she could react Julie tackled her. The momentum carried her away from Cannonbolt and into a wall.

A quick burst from her boot jets allowed her to break loose and she twisted in mid-air to land facing her enemy. She fired two energy blasts but Julie nimbly dodged them. She darted in, ducking under a slash from a clawed hand and seized Nemesis 2's arm. She spun around and hurled her into a car. Glass shattered and metal crumpled under the impact.

Angrily Nemesis 2 lifted the car and hurled it at Julie. She stood her ground and caught the car easily. As she set it down she saw Nemesis 2 charging and leaping over the car to slash at her head. Again she ducked under the blow.

Something appeared on Ship's HUD. Julie watched as a red circle zipped across her field of vision and zoomed in on her opponent's torso. A cylindrical red silhouette flickered as Ship's sensors identified something.

Julie realised right away what it meant, but before she could act on this new information Nemesis 2 sprang at her again. This time she wasn't able to avoid the strike completely and five claw marks were slashed across Ship's surface. The galvanic mechomorph uttered a low cry of pain.

"Ship!"

Not wanting to put her pet further in harm's way Julie did the last thing her enemy expected and rushed her. She gripped her wrists to prevent her from using the claws again and both armoured girls grappled furiously. Finally Julie drew back her arm and punched as hard as she could into Nemesis 2's torso. Her fingers closed around something cylindrical, the same thing Ship had detected, and she tore it out.

Sure enough the cylindrical object was the energy cell that powered the armour. Julie stepped away and within seconds Nemesis 2 froze up. She toppled over with a loud _crash!_

The gravity modifier field vanished and Cannonbolt stood up. He de-transformed and ran over to Julie as Ship reverted to his normal form and hopped up into her arms.

"Are you okay Ben?" she asked.

"I'm fine. Thanks Julie, you were awesome."

She smiled at that and began stroking Ship gently. "There, there Ship" she said gently. "Good boy."

The little blob chirruped happily, enjoying the attention.

Gwen and Kevin, having finished off the last of the robo-roaches came hurrying up. They skidded to a halt at what they saw.

"So…we won?" Kevin asked unsurely.

A short time later the police arrived. As Fiona was being led away Julie went up to her.

"I meant what I said before" she said gently. "You don't have to condemn yourself. You don't have to let this determine the rest of your life."

"She's right" Kevin agreed. "There was a time I wanted Ben dead too. Eventually I realised I didn't have to be that way. I didn't have to be a criminal all my life."

Gwen smiled proudly at him as he said that and he shrugged bashfully.

Fiona said nothing, but as she got into the police car there was something in her eyes that suggested she hadn't dismissed what they had said.

As the cars drove away Ben seemed to slump slightly. He was relieved that a murderer had been brought to justice but he couldn't help feeling a sense of guilt over the lives that had been lost.

As if reading his thoughts Julie took his hand and turned his head to face her. "Ben" she said softly. "What happened is not your fault. If it hadn't been for you then someone else would have eventually found out what Captain Nemesis was really like. And then she would have fixated on them."

Ben relaxed. "You're right. Thanks Julie."

After a moment she said, "We should go and pay our respects to Jennifer, and to Will Harangue. He may have been a jerk but he was still a human being."

"I agree" said Gwen. Kevin nodded.

"Yeah me too" Ben agreed, feeling like a weight had lifted from him. Feeling more at ease than he had in several days he put an arm around Julie. "For now let's go home."

The End.

Author's note: The Ship-armour Julie uses here is based on a design created by Kapaychan on deviantart. Kapaychan kindly gave permission to use it here.


End file.
